Sony has recently launched the online Playstation Store that allows PSP owners to download games, wallpaper and themes for their PSP. This online service makes a lot of sense for multiple reasons. For one it gives a central place to instantly get games and other things for the PSP online. But for many of us it more importantly could help due away with that goofy UMD media for the PSP games.

Sure the new PSP Slim offered a little bit faster startup time for games but a person still had to load it up and wait a while for the game to start. Also, the spinning of that UMD used up batteries that wouldn’t be the case with a game saved all in memory.

The service does require a computer in between, so you can’t download games or themes directly to your PSP from the website (which would have been even cooler). You can then transfer the game to your PSP through USB or a card reader for the Memory Stick. This does provide some advantages however since it forces you to have a second copy of your download and in most cases will probably provide a little more stable download.

The Playstation Store service has a number of games, wallpaper and videos that are free to download simply by creating an account and signing in, and we saw prices ranging anywhere from $5.99 for Crash Bandicoot to $14.99 for Wipeout Pure.

Playstation Store